Description: Deoki Niwas is serviceable and generally okay, but it’s no great shakes. Rooms are plain and average, and seemed to tend towards mugginess which the air- conditioning did nothing to dispel. Not worth the $40 we paid.
The location is nothing special. It’s on a shabby street nowhere near anything. One thing it has going for it is a great view of the Fort on the hill, especially from the rooftop restaurant (which is fine, but also nothing special).
Bathrooms are the typical Indian variety. No shower curtain, just a drain in the floor, water sprays everywhere. The sinks drain through a tube that stops above a floor drain, so if there’s a lot of water, it just overflows the drain and gets all over the floor. Towels are provided.
The beds are kind of hard, though not the worst you’ll find by far. Our room had a whole set of Queen Anne furniture (velvet, even) and a TV, which we spent a lot of time watching since there wasn’t much to do around the hotel. Internet is technically available, but the connection was so slow (in all of Jaisalmer, not just at the hotel) that I could never access my email (AOL gives you all kind of trouble on Indian Internet connections). Internet time is supposed to be charged by the hour (20-40 rupees, probably) but since I could never connect, they didn’t charge me.
The hotel also provides services such as Mehndi (henna), manicures, pedicures, massages, and facials. The henna was decent, if not spectacular, and cost 500 rupees (about $10) for both hands, front and back. A pedicure was 400 rupees.
The rooftop hotel has the standard offerings, nothing particularly outstanding. If you order eggs in the morning, make sure you ask for them extra cooked, since they were always unbelievably runny. If you order fried eggs, specify that you want them fried both sides, otherwise you get sunny-side-up.
The staff is very friendly and helpful, no matter how mediocre the hotel is. They were very available for any troubles or inquiries.
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